THE RIGHT MEASURES

I remember an incident in Rabat in the 1950s that left a lasting impression on me.

My father and I went to buy meat from our butcher. He would place the piece my father had chosen on the scales.

 

Beforehand, he placed a large sheet of paper on the scales, in which he would wrap the meat. Then he would use the weights to measure it all and multiply by the price per kilo to give the final price to my father, who paid him. I don't know if you noticed a small anomaly.

Once, at the Ecole Normale where I did my first studies, I learned that in our law, correct measurements were very important, in other words in the case mentioned above the butcher didn't have to put the paper which became part of the meat bought and whose weight was added to that of the meat.

The butcher was dishonest. I learned years later that a rabbi came to the butcher and advised him to ignore this practice.

I tell this story today because yesterday, at the fruit and vegetable market, there were figs; a fruit we don't often find.  My partner rushed out to buy them. After choosing a dozen or so, she took a small cardboard basket and put them in, and of course, at the checkout, the clerk weighed the figs in their basket.

I was clumsy enough to mention this to my partner, explaining my point of view. She didn't like my comment at all, not wanting to understand the legal side of things. For her, the most important thing is to eat the figs she loves so much.

In Hebrew, just measures are called MOZNÉ TSEDEK (מוזני צדק) and the Talmud is full of explanations.

I hope I've expressed myself well enough to give the reader a little insight into some of the laws of our wonderful religion.